Why (なぜ、どうして、なんで)

[Alan]

There are several ways for saying why. I'm trying to decide when each is appropriate. Based on watching various films...

なぜ I've only heard this one occassionally, in a 'Why is this the case' type situation.
どうして Heard quite a lot. More 'What is happening' I think. どうしてんですか。is 'What's wrong?'
なんで Also heard quite a bit. Probably 'What for', If I responded なんで to 買いましょう would the meaning be 'For what are we going shopping' or 'Why are we going shopping'?

Keeping on with the shopping theme. If I responded to 買いましょう with なぜ would the answer be たべものがありません, while if I responded なんで would the answer be along the lines of 白米や海苔や漬け物を買いたいです。If I replied どうして would the answer be something like 買いましょうって聞いてください。All very polite. (I wonder what the japanese equivalent is for 'cloth-ears', but I digress).

Alan

[Bueller_007]

There are several ways for saying why. I'm trying to decide when each is appropriate. Based on watching various films...

なぜ I've only heard this one occassionally, in a 'Why is this the case' type situation.
どうして Heard quite a lot. More 'What is happening' I think. どうしてんですか。is 'What's wrong?'
なんで Also heard quite a bit. Probably 'What for', If I responded なんで to 買いましょう would the meaning be 'For what are we going shopping' or 'Why are we going shopping'?

Keeping on with the shopping theme. If I responded to 買いましょう with なぜ would the answer be たべものがありません, while if I responded なんで would the answer be along the lines of 白米や海苔や漬け物を買いたいです。If I replied どうして would the answer be something like 買いましょうって聞いてください。All very polite. (I wonder what the japanese equivalent is for 'cloth-ears', but I digress).

Alan

As I understand it:

なぜ=formal/written
どうして=spoken but still somewhat formal
なんで=informal

I think you'd probably get the same answer (maybe something like ほしいですから) in all three cases.

どうしてんですか should be どうしたんですか。

[Airth]

Personally, I would answer the same way to all three. In my opinion, it's not the answer that's important, it's the choice of question depending on the situation you are asking about.

In a spoken, informal situation I would invariably use なんで.
If I was asking about something beyond the control of the person I was asking, a natural phenomenon, or some kind of mystery I might go for なぜ
And in all other situations I would settle for どうして

The nuance between なぜ and どうして is the former is focusing on the reason or the cause, while the latter is asking about the method or in what way. So, I suppose you may get differing responses depending on which one you chose to ask. In the case of going shopping I think the answers to 'why?' are pretty limited; perhaps you could think of a more complex situation that might open up more possible ways to answer.

[Alan]

Bueller_007さん & Airthさん,

Thanks for the responses. And there was I thinking that picking the right one would be vital to getting the desired response

Alan